The Pirates finally put everything together in a fantastic 9-2 win on Saturday at Progressive Field, ending a 4-game losing skid and keeping them over .500.

For the first time in a while, the bats and the arms both came through in a big way. A.J. Burnett wasn’t spectacular by any means, but kept the Indians in check for6.2 solid innings. As we’ve said so many times about Burnett this year, he did a phenomenal job bearing down when the team needed it most. And check this out:

A.J. Burnett is the first Pirates pitcher to win 6 straight starts since Doug Drabek in 1990.

Almost all the runs in this game came via the long ball. Asdrubal Cabrera took A.J. deep for a solo shot in the first, but Pedro Alvarez returned the favor when he whacked a low pitch out of the yard to lead off the second. Ubaldo Jimenez seemed shaky all day for the Tribe, and the Pirates did a decent enough job of taking advantage. After singles by Neil Walker and Andrew McCutchen in the third, Garrett Jones did the job and knocked Neil home with a single to right on a tough 0-2 pitch.

Casey Kotchman hit another solo shot off Burnett to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth, but the Bucs struck back right away when Jones singled and Casey McGehee (the team’s hottest hitter over the last week or so) smashed a hanging breaking ball for a two-run shot. Then Burnett worked out of a bases-loaded mess in the 6th, and Alex Presley added a run with a solo shot in the 7th. Once A.J. got into some more trouble in the 7th, Jared Hughes came on and put out the fire. Huge two-inning stretch for the Bucs–they grabbed control of the game and hung on to it.

McGehee finished off another very productive day at the plate with a two-run singled in the 9th, and Pedro followed that with a majestic blast. That gave him his first two-homer game since July 21, 2010, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. If he can get back on to a little hot streak…it would be great news for this club.

Four homers and a strong day of pitching…now that’s how you snap a losing streak. You can never predict this sort of thing, but hopefully this is the kind of game that gives the Pirates some momentum back going into the rubber match with Cleveland and a homestand coming up.

Notes:

Clint Barmes picked up his third walk of the year. Garrett Jones had his first since May 3rd.